Assessing Constitutional Performance

This volume challenges the concept of constitutional success, a bedrock assumption of comparative constitutional scholarship.

Tom Ginsburg (Edited by), Aziz Huq (Edited by)

9781316608357, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 30 August 2016

442 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm, 0.62 kg

'Essays from a variety of perspectives and case studies from Africa, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia explore a varied array of constitutional histories, and indicate that complex ideas of constitutional success play out differently in different contexts.' Law and Social Inquiry

From London to Libya, from Istanbul to Iceland, there is great interest among comparative constitutional scholars and practitioners about when a proposed constitution is likely to succeed. But what does it mean for a constitution to succeed? Are there universal criteria of success, and which apply across the board? Or, is the choice of criteria entirely idiosyncratic? This edited volume takes on the idea of constitutional success and shows the manifold ways in which it can be understood. It collects essays from philosophers, political scientists, empiricists and legal scholars, that approach the definition of constitutional success from many different angles. It also brings together case studies from Africa, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia. By exploring a varied array of constitutional histories, this book shows how complex ideas of constitutional success play out differently in different contexts and provides examples of how success can be differently defined under different circumstances.

1. Introduction. Assessing constitutional performance Tom Ginsburg and Aziz Huq
Part I. Defining Constitutional Performance: 2. Hippocratic constitutional design Aziz Huq
3. What is a good constitution? Assessing the constitutional proposal in the Icelandic experiment Helene Landemore
4. When is a constitution doing well? The Alberdian test in the Americas Roberto Gargarella
5. Political parties and constitutional performance Martin Shapiro
Part II. Managing Specific Constitutional Challenges: 6. Constitutions and the transition from military rule Ozal Varol
7. Constitutional permissiveness, constitutional restrictiveness and religious freedom Hanna Lerner
8. Transitional provisions and the performance of constitutions Sumit Bisarya
9. Time and constitutional efficacy: implementation of rights Zachary Elkins, Tom Ginsburg and James Melton
10. Competitive democracy and the constitutional minimum core Rosalind Dixon and David Landau
Part III. Case Studies: 11. Ambedkar's constitution: promoting inclusion, opposing majority tyranny Martha Nussbaum
12. Assessing the constitution of Kenya 2010: five years later James Gathii
13. The Arab Spring constitutions: for whose benefit? Zaid Al-Ali
14. Stability in flexibility: a British lens on constitutional success Erin Delaney.

Subject Areas: Constitutional & administrative law [LND]